Grace Community Church is an amazing gathering of people. I’ve been in church all my life and never known people who were more compassionate and caring about the people around them. Do we have problems? Of course. Are we perfect? Not by a long shot. We serve a perfect God, but we are made up of thousands of imperfect people, so we make plenty of mistakes.

Yesterday our church supplied Christmas for a couple hundred children and their families. Toys, clothes and food… Amazing. The stories are still coming in but I thought I’d share a couple I received. I changed the names for anonymity.

Here are two examples of why I love Grace:

Dear Ron,

What an awesome lesson in humbleness and love. Thank you for helping us do this. I know they will have an awesome Christmas, but the impact of those short minutes will certainly stay with me for years to come!

Thank you for being people who live out your faith. I’m a blessed pastor! I love being known as a church who loves our community…regardless of their place or position in life.

Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5:8

I’m not a pastor who is constantly looking for Satan behind everything that goes wrong. I concentrate my attention on Jesus and encouraging others to follow Jesus and not to focus on the defeated one. Yet, I’m fully aware that Satan loves to destroy…or attempt to destroy…a church. Obviously Satan is a limited being and God’s church is secure. The gates of hell shall never overcome what God started, but Satan certainly loves to disrupt what God’s church is doing.

Here are 7 way Satan tries to destroy a church:

Church conflict – Satan loves business meetings that get out of hand or when two church members have disagreements outside of church. He loves when church members argue about trivial things, such as colors of the carpet or big things, such as whether to add another service. Doesn’t matter to him. Show him a good argument potential and he’s willing to stir the fire.

Burnout – Satan loves to burn out a church volunteer, staff member, or pastor. If he can make them feel they are no longer needed, their work is not appreciated, or that they no longer have anything to offer…he feels he’s winning part of the battle.

Rumors – Satan is the stirrer of dissension. He likes to plant little seeds of a juicy story, about someone in the church or community…sometimes even the pastor or staff…and watch them quickly spread through a church congregation or community. The version, of course, usually grows to a larger portion than reality. Satan likes that too.

Busyness – Satan loves to distract church goers with a plethora of activity that produces little results in Kingdom-building.

Lies – Satan attempts to interject what he calls a “half-truth”; just a hint of false doctrine and then watch it disrupt or divide a body. Of course, we all know that half-truth is really just a cleaned up version of a bold face lie, but Satan is clever enough to disguise a lie in a way where false teachers gain entry and do damage before being discovered.

Scandal – Satan loves a good, juicy, gossipy news headline in the local paper. If it will split, divide or destroy a church body…even better. If it will destroy someone’s Kingdom calling or work…he’ll take that too.

Marriage and family disruptions – Satan loves to destroy any relationship, but he also goes after key leader’s marriages; even the pastor’s marriage. He likes to encourage prodigal children. He wants to cause families to fight within the church and fight with the church. Satan knows if he can destroy a home, he has a better chance of destroying a church.

Thankfully, there is good news:

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

What other ways have you seen Satan try to destroy a church?

You

want

to

reach

people

for

Christ

That’s all there is to it. Of course, you want more explanation if you’ve questioned it so far. Let me just say this: If you want to reach people, you have to go where people are…

Any questions?

Ben Reed is community groups pastor at Grace Community Church where I serve. Ben is an excellent leader; truly becoming one of the sharpest minds on small groups in the country. If he’s not on your radar he should be. You can learn from him and he loves helping other churches. Recently Ben had a family situation that took him out of the office. Our email and text exchanges through that time prompted this guest post.

Here is a guest post from Ben Reed:

As a church, we say that we value the family. Now I can personally vouch that we do.

I know that older generations accuse my generation of not working hard. But if you spend much time around me, you’ll realize that I don’t fit that mold. (and, in fact, I’d submit that my generation isn’t lazy…we just work differently)

I really enjoy hard work. And when I have to be out of the office for an extended amount of time, it drives me nuts. Not because I’m being pressured  from other team members or not living up to perceived expectations. It’s simply because I love what I do, and I love working hard at it.

When Family Calls

So when I had to be out of the office for 10 days, it was tough. I felt torn: I wanted to be at the office, but I desperately didn’t. See, my wife’s grandfather was rushed to ICU, then transported to hospice care, and I was at his side with my wife’s family for the better part of 10 days. And I wanted to be there, at his side, the entire 10 days.

But I texted Ron, saying this:
I hate being out of the office so long. It is not my style. Sorry I’ve been so absent the last week and a half. I know it’s ‘excusable’ but I also know me being out isn’t ideal.

His response:
It’s ok Ben. It’s one of our values as a church. Family first.

I tell people all of the time that we are a church that truly values family. By the way we’re structured (very simply), we get the chance to tell people, “Gather with us on Sunday, join a small group, and the rest of the week invest in your family!”

But this time, I got to experience this. I was given the freedom to be present with my family when I needed to be present with my family. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my church staff supported me being absent.

We put our money where our mouth is.

When push comes to shove, we value family. Even if that means that things have to slow down. Even if that means that a team member is absent. Even if that means a team member’s voice isn’t present at the table.

We know that if our team members don’t do a good job at home, they can’t do a good job leading their ministries (1 Timothy 3:4). And intellectually, I get that. I’ve even said that to people.

But it was an entirely different matter when I needed to apply that to myself.

My church values my family. Which makes me even more proud to serve her.

Does your church value your family?

You may have seen the news recently that Joe Sangl has acquired the stewardship company Injoy Stewardship Solutions (ISS) – the company founded by Dr. John C. Maxwell. For the past five years, Joe has focused on helping equip people to become personally financially free through his I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. ministry. Joe is a great friend and I’m excited to support him in his new venture. I believe in his heart and ability to help the church. He is a Kingdom-builder.

Joe and his team is passionate about helping church leaders fund their vision and equipping church attenders to win with their money God’s way. Recently, the Injoy team released a free e-report titled “5 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Church Fund Raising.”

Here is an excerpt from that free report:

#1 – Making It All About The Money

THE ISSUE

One big mistake that many churches make when raising money is to make it all about the money. Something has gone terribly wrong if the entire conversation becomes all about how much money is going to be raised and the topic consumes the vast majority of the conversation amongst church leadership and members. When this happens, people are more likely to feel manipulated and guilted into giving. This violates II Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) – “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

THE SOLUTION

Focus on the major initiative as a spiritual journey. Whenever God has called people to take huge steps of faith, it always resulted in spiritual growth when people actually took those steps. Imagine the spiritual growth that Joshua and the Israelites experienced as they crossed the Jordan River in the middle of flood season, and they walked across on dry land!

Instead of focusing just on the amount of money that needs to be raised for this next step, focus people on what this next step will allow your church to accomplish and the life change that will result from their faithful, generous, and sacrificial giving.

Obtain the entire e-report by filling out the form below. It literally takes five minutes to read it, and it could substantially impact the next major phase of ministry that your church embarks on.

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First Name * Email *

There are times when a pastor is launched into the role of being a community pastor.

• An influential person in the community or a popular youth dies and you are asked to do the funeral
• Tragedy that attracts media attention occurs involving church members
• Natural disaster and your church is heavily involved in the recovery
• You are asked to speak at a very public event

For brief moments in time…an hour…a day…a week…all eyes are on your for spiritual guidance, comfort and a sense of direction.

What do you do in those times?

As our church has grown over the last few years, we’ve found ourselves in this position on a number of occasions.

These settings can come regardless of the church or community’s size. When they do the way you respond is of Kingdom importance.

Here are 5 reminders when you are the community’s pastor:

Speak truth in love – Don’t water down truth in these occasions, but don’t beat people up with truth either. Be like Jesus, full of grace and truth. Share God’s Word, but don’t use it as a weapon against the community. You will never be taken serious if they see you as judgmental and uncaring. Win them over with genuine love and helpful truth. These situations may give you a greater opportunity for influence for Christ in the days to come.

Don’t recruit for a church recruit for Jesus – There’s nothing worse, in my opinion, than a pastor in a community setting who spends more time trying to recruit for his individual church than he does sharing the love of Christ. In settings where everyone sees you as the pastor, but not everyone is from your “flock”, use it as an opportunity to lift a Christ banner high, not your church banner. If they are impressed with the Jesus you proclaim, they’ll be likely to find your church.

Don’t hold out for denominational tenants – Be mindful of doctrinal divisions that have divided people denominationally for years. In strictly church settings, you can be free to express your doctrinal stance, but in public settings where different theological views are joined together, let the main thing be the main thing. Keep your focus upon the things upon which all of mainline Christianity can agree.

Be truthful but encouraging – More than anything in these settings, share hope. This is likely not the time to bring forth condemnation, even if it’s shared under the disguise of truth. Don’t back away from truth, but make sure whatever you share is clearly seen in the context of a God who IS LOVE.

Be likable and natural - Let the crowds see you as real and approachable. Take time to shake hands, embrace, cry with people who are grieving if necessary. The more they see you as a man (just like Elijah…James 5:17) and not like someone above them positionally, the more likely they’ll be to trust the comfort you bring and cling to the God you serve.

It doesn’t happen often, but on these occasions where you have a larger, community audience, allow God to use you for a greater and longer term benefit to the Kingdom.

Have you ever been the community’s pastor? What would you add to my list?

I’ve often said “I wish everyone in our church could go through at least an hour of professional counseling. We all need help with the relationships in our life. What are some Biblical principles to help us know how to communicate better…how to handle conflict…what does a healthy relationship look like…especially with difficult people? There should be no shame in seeking help when needed.

Could you use help in those areas?

If you don’t have to deal with people in your life…you probably have little need for this series, but if you deal with people everyday…then this may be your series.

During the month of October, that’s the goal of our new series at Grace Community Church. For four seeks we will have trained Biblical counselors stage to help us think through relationship issues. These counselors are professionals, educated with doctorate degrees, but they are sold out believers; passionate about leading people to the ultimate Counselor…Jesus Christ. Now obviously this series will never substitute for needed counseling, but we do hope that we will all learn valuable and Biblical principles of how we relate to one another…in all the relationships of our life.

This month, join us for Necessary Roughness. Let’s get better at building healthy relationships.

Be bold and share. Have you been helped with professional counseling?

The mission of Grace Community Church is short.

GCC exists to encourage growing followers of Jesus Christ.

We believe it’s easy to understand, but it’s obviously somewhat subjective. Our staff has been working over the last few months to add some clarity to what we mean by “growing followers of Jesus Christ”. In an all day staff retreat recently, we decided on ten attributes of a growing follower of Jesus.

We call them our core values and we will be sharing them with our church in the coming weeks. These will become principles to guide how we encourage discipleship at every level of ministry.

Our core values:

A growing follower of Jesus values…

GATHERING: consistently gathering with the Church to celebrate Jesus and encounter Biblical teaching. (Acts 2:42, Hebrews 10:25)

COMMUNITY: building authentic relationships of encouragement and accountability with other followers of Jesus. (Acts 2:44, 1 Corinthians 12:12)

SERVING: developing a servant’s heart that looks to always meet the needs of others. (Matthew 20:28, 1 Peter 4:10)

PRAYER: maintaining a continuous conversation with God. (1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 5:16)

GOD’S WORD: spending consistent time reading the Bible and applying its Truth. (Acts 2:42, 2 Timothy 3:16)

SHARING THEIR STORY: creating conversations about what God has done and is doing in his/her life. (Acts 1:8, 1 Peter 3:15)

WISDOM: seeking God’s will in all decisions. (Proverbs 8:11, James 1:5)

GENEROSITY: developing a growing generosity with resources and finances. (Proverbs 3:9, 2 Corinthians 9:7)

INTEGRITY: striving to develop a reputation that honors God. (Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 4:1-3)

INFLUENCE: maximizing influence to point others to Jesus. (Deuteronomy 4:9, 1 Peter 3:16)

Does your church have something such as this to help shape programs, ministry and teaching?

Solving a problem is often a matter of perspective….

Some days leaders feel as though all we do is address problems other people have. It could be a personal problem, a problem with a program, someone on our team, or it could be a problem no one can even identify…just a problem. Leaders often serve the role of problem solvers.

It’s frustrating, as a leader, when we do our best to address a problem, but people still have a problem.

Ever been there?

That’s because fixing a problem…addressing the problem…doesn’t always solve the problem…at least in the mind of others. You see…solving a problem is often a matter of perspective.

I remember the time my family ate at a very popular chain restaurant in Chicago. I won’t tell you the name, but if I did you’ve probably heard of it. It’s a wonderful restaurant and people often stand in line for hours to eat there. We continue to patronize the restaurant today.

Anyway, my son ordered milk. I don’t know why…who orders milk at a restaurant? When they set the milk down on the table, my son, who is somewhat picky about certain things, noticed a huge fly floating in his glass of milk. He wouldn’t drink it!

We called the waiter over and showed him the fly. The waiter simply grabbed a spoon off the table, scooped the fly out of the glass of milk, and tossed the fly onto an empty plate on the table. With that he walked away…problem solved.

It was solved, right?

Seriously, this story remains funny to us today. In no way did we feel this problem was solved. It may have been fixed…there was no longer a fly in the milk, but the problem wasn’t solved. My son wanted a new glass of milk. I know…he’s picky. We decided we weren’t up for an argument and had made a funny memory together, so we simply ignored it, my son drank his water, and we left feeling as though we had an unresolved problem at our table.

Our server, on the other hand, felt he had fixed our problem, so everything was good…no fly…no problem. He never apologized or addressed it again, but continued serving us.

That story…as silly as it is…is a good reminder as a leader. Just because you fix a problem from your perspective, doesn’t mean you’ve solved the problem in the eyes of those you lead.

Solving a problem is often a matter of perspective.

Understanding this principle means a few things for me:

• As a leader, whether or not you’ve solved a problem…or even addressed it in some people’s eyes…may be based more on a person’s perspective, their personal interests or desires, and even their emotional investment at times, than it is on some measurable reality.
• I should keep trying to fix the problems I agree need fixing…just knowing I may not solve everyone’s concern with the problem. I can’t make everyone happy…as hard as I may try to solve their problems.
• More importantly, I should attempt to understand the real problem from other’s perspective and what solving that problem would even look like. At that point, I can determine whether I can truly solve the problem to their satisfaction. Sometimes I’ll be able to and sometimes not, but everyone should at least know what’s considered resolution to the problem. That keeps me from spending time and resources attempting to fix a problem I can never solve.

In the case of the milk, if the waiter had asked, “Do you want a new glass or should I just scoop the fly out?“…he would have learned how to move from fixing the problem to solving the problem from our perspective.

Have you ever tried to fix a problem but still experienced upset people? Please share your story to help others.

If you’ve attended The Nines or any other free online conference, you’ll know how this works. This free online event is focused on church finances. It’s called Fund Your Church Now and it takes places on October 20. Here are the details:

What is it? Fund Your Church Now is a FREE online event to help your church go from financial breakeven to breakthrough. Some of the top church leaders in North America will talk about the practical things they have done to fully fund the church or ministry they help lead. No travel required…just watch from your computer.

When is it? October 20, 2011 from 1pm – 4pm EST. Register here.

Who is speaking? Bob Franquiz, Dino Rizzo, Carey Nieuwhof, Shaun King, Joe Sangl, Tim Stevens , Pete Wilson, Casey Graham, Robert Morris, and others.

Who is behind it? Fund Your Church Now is hosted by Giving Rocket.

If you are a church leader, this free online conference looks like it’s worth your time. Register here.